Player turnover

Was thinking today, that FGRs player turnover is incredible. I think of the 14 players to play today, only 2 were in the squad last season.

And those 14 don’t include Browne, Fitzwater, Laird, Gomes, Iacovitti, Evans, Randall and James who have already been tried and moved on or dropped.

Can’t imagine any other team has had such a big and quick turnover in about 8 months.

It’s almost like promotion happened with one team, Cooper signed a whole new team in the summer, then they didn’t work so he signed another whole new team in Jan. I’d have to say, the current team looks the best of the 3 teams to me - decent defenders which have been missing, a solid midfield with a goal threat, and 2 strikers who are capable of scoring.

This is something that has occurred to me in the past, when you see a team with more than a handful of players having high squad numbers it usually suggests that things have been going badly wrong and those playing have been brought in to try and turn things around. The missing players in the squad with the lower numbers are often, but not always of course, those who didn't quite meet muster.

Our starting line-up today, by squad number: 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 16, 20, 26, 31, 32, 34...of those Grubb took the number 8 shirt when he arrived, so you could say that only four of those players would have been in a probable starting eleven when the season started. I'm not complaining though, I thought the team looked pretty good today, at last we seem to have a group of players who are capable of competing in the division and getting the right sort of result.

There were 3 that played today from last year Doidge Bennet and Wishart, i pointed it out to friends at the game myself that slowly but surely the whole team had changed, to be fair quite a few of those you named were on loan and returned to their clubs when their loans were up, as will a few of the new faces as many are only with us until the end of the season.

I'd rather be a free man in my grave, than living as a puppet or a slave.

Lower league football has a significantly higher turnover rate of players than higher up for various reasons. We had a fair few loan players lasts season who went back and again this season. I think pretty much everyone including MC under estimated the quality of the league though, luckily we have a chairman who is able and willing to back him. I too think this is the best group of players we've had but even if we stay up there will again be massive change because of loans and you'd have to imagine one or two moving up the leagues i.e. Doidge and maybe one or two who won't quite cut it going the other way. Not forgetting of course you could make a half decent side with the players coopers fallen out with!

The thing to do now is to get the players we are not going to use out on loan and off set the wage bill well away from the SCAMP limit of 55% of annual turnover. (In fact restrictions will apply when just 50% is approached ).

This is easily the best squad of first team players ever seen at TNL giving us the best chance we could hope for of pulling away from the drop zone by early April.

Stackz123 wrote:Friend of mine worked out yesterday that under Cooper we've had 53 players play for us. In 18 months, 53 players! That's not including Belford, Moran and Hickford who've never played for us.

Whilst i dont doubt this nunber is correct it probably reads worse than it should.He after all inherited a squad from another manager and replaced a large number of them cor players he wanted,we then got promoted and he felt many of the squad werent up to league two standard.We have also had a lot of loan players for one reason or another who then return to their parent club.Still a lot of players though in such a short time.Good quiz question...name all 53. g

I'd rather be a free man in my grave, than living as a puppet or a slave.

Stackz123 wrote:Friend of mine worked out yesterday that under Cooper we've had 53 players play for us. In 18 months, 53 players! That's not including Belford, Moran and Hickford who've never played for us.

Whilst i dont doubt this nunber is correct it probably reads worse than it should.He after all inherited a squad from another manager and replaced a large number of them cor players he wanted,we then got promoted and he felt many of the squad werent up to league two standard.We have also had a lot of loan players for one reason or another who then return to their parent club.Still a lot of players though in such a short time.Good quiz question...name all 53. g

I agree to an extent, but being so easily replaceable in MC's mind is probably doing little for confidence. Believe over 20 of these 53 players were defenders, that's a lot of turnover at the back, especially when you consider Dale has been a regular fixture in the side. This is probably contributing to why we've been fragile defensively under Cooper.

That is a lot of defenders to get to this point, but based on what I've seen from them so far, along with their prior experience/reputations I would say that our current set of defenders look the best of the lot, which is encouraging.

League 2 is streets ahead of what you'll come up against most weeks at National League level, and it looks like we now have defenders more capable of dealing with that. Even someone like Charlie Clough, who I rated pretty highly in the NL, has found life pretty tough at Barnet in this league.

The good thing is that if we can stay up, and it's still a big if, then we should be going into next season with a set of defenders who we know are good enough for this league, which would be a good start.

Last edited by Kentstripe on Mon Feb 05, 2018 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I wonder if the fact that MC brought in Iacovitti and Fitzwater on loan suggests he simply couldn't get the defenders he wanted during the summer? I recall a comment when he signed Rawson in January that we had tried (and failed) to get him previously.

And of course at the end of last season, Ellis went back to his club, Pinnock was sold - we had no control over some of these losses really. Bennett stands alone really as our only 'long standing' defender. Laird has been disappointing, it has to be said, but we have tended to play with a Back 3 and I don't think he has the pace to be a 'left wing back' any more. Lee Collins has generally impressed and his flexibility has been invaluable with Drissa missing and Charlie suspended.

Reverting to a traditional 4-4-2 seemed to suit us on Saturday and Bradley Collins looked about as assured as I have seen him, making a couple of excellent saves. Grubb and Bray gave us that attacking thrust that has all too often been missing this season - Grubb seems to have adjusted very quickly to this level and does not look out of place. I also lost count of the number of times Reid took the ball under pressure from two or even more defenders, held it up and brought other players into the game.

I think League Two has been a rude awakening at all levels of the club, from the board room to the terraces. It didn't take too many weeks to see that the squad MC put together really wasn't up to scratch. But I think with the signings he has made in January (and by hanging on to Doidge) that we have given ourselves a realistic chance of staying up. But we need to start getting something from away games soon and Newport is going to be a very tough game, especially if Ossie, our midfield, behemoth, isn't able to play. Lose there and the pressure is heaped straight back on us next Tuesday night against Stevenage.

Some good posts and observations on all things player turnover and movement...I'm losing track and the plot fast.. so do forgive me... but can anyone tell me,, as of now...with the window shut ..who is on LOAN (til season end?) and who is SIGNED...(apart from Bray and Campbell!)

CAN ANYONE HELP?????

BTW ,,,A FEW THINGS ID' LIKE TO SEE IN THE PROGRAMME:

FGR AWAY FANS total .Those who travelled to away games in in brackets in the programme next t othe AWAY match attendances

& OTHER TEAMS AWAY FANS TOTALS in the attendance figures for HOME games at TNL

MORE IMAGES FROM AWAY GAMES IN THE PROGRAMME

PICS OF FGR FANS ON THE ROAD AT GAMES ETC

and being selfish and greedy ..A REGULAR POETRY AND DRAWING COMPETITION SECTION FOR KIDS ..(scream scream)

thanks

FOOTBALL POETS"The only know collective of football poets in the World" Today BBC Radio 4.Archived by the British Library with 16000 football poems published.http://footballpoets.org

In addition to what Football Poets suggested, I would like to see the players named for every game, along with who was substituted, booked or sent off and who scored the goals. Maybe one to do next season, we always used to get this sort of information in the matchday programme.

Player turnover. It would be interesting to compare year on year. It's probably on Heather's Web site.

One thing I admired last year was the 'with me or against me' poll and the subsequent ins and outs. Ultimately it worked and those not buying into the strategy left the club sooner or later.

I still don't get the link between being a good manager and being everybody's friend on and off the pitch. MC's task is tough.

Who knows who was available last summer but suffice to say the January signings are all a step up.

Isaiah Osbourne has been joined by some good players. I was a bit worried when he went off on Saturday, hopefully precautionary. I watched Clements quite closely after he came on for IO. I don't think he put a foot wrong, which was pleasing and was reflected in no drop off in intensity and ultimately, 3 points.

Who is online

About FGR

We’re a club that looks to the future, but our identity is forged from a rich 128-year history. Founded in 1889, we’re one of the oldest football clubs in the world.

In 2017, we were promoted to the Football League for the first time in our history – which means we can spread our sustainability message to an even bigger audience. FIFA recently described us as the greenest football club in the world. That’s quite an accolade, and it shows how we’ve been able to bring together football and environmental consciousness at the highest levels of the game.